Build IRL 2026: Onwards & Upwards🚀

Hi IRL Builders 👋,

It’s 2026 - and for us, this is a step change.🚀

Can we take this movement national. Heck, even global 🌍?
That’s the question driving us this year.

Over the last 2 years, we’ve learned a ton from hundreds of clubs in SF. The hacks. The landmines. What actually works. What quietly burns people out. What real solutions look like 🛠️

But here’s the truth: Building IRL clubs is still hard.
Most IRL builders feel under-valued, under-resourced and uncared for.
80% can’t cover costs. 70% are overwhelmed by endless tasks.

In 2026, we will:

1️⃣ Share everything we’ve learned — with builders everywhere

Make club-building easy. Fun. Sustainable. Less lonely. Whatever your starting point.

What we’ll launch:
📖 Club Builder’s Recipe & Online Course
🧠 Real club stories, go-to hacks, and practical tips

2️⃣ Unleash the real magic: builders helping builders, nationally ✨

Because when builders lift each other up, magic happens ✨.

What we’re building next:
🗣️ Builders sharing their own stories, wins, and hard-earned lessons
🗂️ Opt-in national builder directory
🌆 Local builder meetups, challenges, microgrants, and more

We didn’t start Build IRL because we had all the answers. We started the SF accelerator to create space for builders to show up, experiment⚡, fail💥, celebrate🎉, and figure it out together 🤝.

And that’s why we’ve come so far. We made it less hard, together, in SF.

Now… let’s do it for builders everywhere 🌍.

Before we dive in, let’s relive 2025: our wildest, most insane year yet 🎉

2025: wildest, most insane year

We executed relentlessly. We’ve experimented boldly. We hit all our 2025 plans & predictions. And went beyond.

Here are some snapshots:

Our first‑of‑its‑kind IRL Club Accelerator reached 100+ alumni. 9.5 NPS!

We went big IRL: 50+ events, 2,000+ locals.
We did SF’s biggest club fair.

SF’s first joiner’s week.
SF’s first dream a club party.
At SF’s first good neighbor week.
SF’s first ‘clubsplosion’ to get locals to raise hands to build clubs.

We offered $50K in microgrants to amazing clubs.
Supported 10K+ IRL hours. 300+ gatherings.

We launched close‑knit “Club of Club Builders” in SF
Monthly member hangs
Sharing tip, tricks, laughter, sweat.

Helped clubs launch member drives & dues 💰
Piloted crowd-member-funding campaigns 🚀
Clubs’ reactions: “It’s insane — we actually have resources now!” 😱

Wrote 50 newsletters 📬, becoming the voice for thousands of club builders nationwide.

And most importantly, celebrated & supported our real heroes everyday: incredible clubs and their builders🎉

In 2026, focus is everything

Two years of bold experiments gave us clarity.

We’re doubling down on our real leverage. Letting go of the rest.

Time to open up the magic to everyone.
From SF club accelerator → open-source hacks + online course
From SF-only builder meetups → national builder directory + grassroots gatherings
From SF-only club celebrations → club stories visible to everyone 🌍

2026: What We’ll Do

1️⃣ Democratize new-age “club-building” recipe

Open-source (free), modern recipe for building great clubs. Practical. Counter-intuitive. Fun. Create shared language.

• IRL Builder’s Recipe → free, modern handbook

• Online Course → step-by-step guide to build or level up a club

• We will share the patterns, lessons, and stories we’ve learned from real clubs

2️⃣ Celebrate Stories of Real Clubs & Real Builders

• Spotlight real clubs & the humans behind them

• Get many many real builders to share their own stories, problems and wins.

• Make club-building visible, fun, and culturally legible

3️⃣ Builders Supporting Builders

• Encourage grassroot gatherings, build-a-thons, microgrants and awards

• Opt-in directory of builders, nationally

🔄 Flywheel

Why this works: our theory of change.
More builders → more great clubs → more places of belonging → more real human connection

Our singular focus is not changing.

Get more people to build great clubs.

By making club‑building …

• Less Hard = Simple

• Fun

• Visible

• Celebrated

So that club builders feel …
understood, capable, connected, energized - part of something bigger.

Our bet: If club‑building becomes visible, desirable, easy and culturally legible, thousands of people will take action on their own.

We sparked this magic in San Francisco. Now let’s make it happen everywhere.🌍

Build with us 🛠️

We can’t do this alone. We’re building this with you - in public - all year long.

We want your ideas. Your feedback. Your time. Your experiments.

This movement will be built by builders.

You’ll shape this with us every step of the way:
🗣️ Share your club story — wins, mess, problems, all of it
🧠 Contribute lessons and hard-earned hacks
🎓 Participate in the online course (or help us co-create it)
🌆 Host or spark a local builder meetup
✉️ Reply and tell us what you’re building

This only works if we build it. Together.

Our Dream. 💭✨

The same as our very first manifesto.

Clubs are one of the most powerful, underutilized social technologies we have.

When builders are supported, entire communities change.

We know culture building isn’t quick.
It isn’t easy.
It isn’t predictable.
And it doesn’t happen by chance.

We need to design the right environment to land into this new reality.

It is possible.
One builder at a time.
One gathering at a time.
One social club at a time.

Keep building 🛠️

Best,
Saum & Colt